Local Review: The Gully Bandits — Space EP

The Gully Bandits
Space EP
Self-Released
Street: 05.03.2026
The Gully Bandits = Built to Spill + Slothrust + MGMT

Ever since their 2018 debut, Sounds from the Gully, The Gully Bandits have been one of Salt Lake City’s funnest rock bands. Across two full-length albums, a few EPs and a plethora of invigorating live shows over the last eight years, the band has consistently stood on business: groovy guitar solos, earnest lyricism and rowdy drumbeats. With their newest EP — simply called Space — the Bandits cram all of these essential nutrients into a release as compact but scrumptious as a packet of astronaut ice cream. 

As is more or less obligatory for an album loosely themed around space exploration, Space’s first track, “Space Tapping,” kicks off with a NASA-style launch countdown over ambient crowd chatter and rocket noises. After blastoff, Marshall Jacobs comes in with a beefy bassline while Indy Heaton’s cymbals lead us into the music. “Space Tapping” then swells into a bluesy romp with hip-hop adjacent synths and quacky guitar riffs while Heaton sings about a transcendent head trip. “I can hear your thoughts like mine. / In your eyes, I’ll turn back time. / We can fly through space. / Let’s see how far we go,” Heaton croons in the chorus, blurring the lines between literal space travel, romantic intimacy and a particularly pleasant evening with a bowl of the good stuff. 

Space has a lot more to offer than just rock ‘n’ roll psychedelia, though. The EP’s second song, “Space Trash,” is a surprisingly vulnerable meditation about overcoming your superiority complex, fostering humility and recognizing your oneness with the rest of humanity. Singer and guitarist Jordan Freytag goes from rapid-fire singing “I will always refute / claims that I contribute / to the space trash” in the track’s first verse to screaming, “It took so long to find out we are one. / I am space trash. / You are space trash. / We are space trash” by the end. None of us is better than any of the rest, the Bandits contend, and we all share the same fate. This is some potent philosophizing for a rock band, but never fear. “Space Trash” doesn’t throttle back on the fun even one percent, and the track is chock-full of jocular crowing and Jet-esque guitarwork. A spoonful of noise pollution helps the optimistic nihilism go down. 

The final track, “Meet Me on the Moon,” is a complete rebuild of a song from the Gully Bandits’ first album. This new version is a few BPM faster, and it’s far better polished; the drums are mixed much more prominently, giving the track a stronger heartbeat, and everything else, from the pulsing synth to lead guitarist Zach Clark’s vocals, comes through with greater clarity and presence. One mark of maturity in a band is the capacity to rescue a good if amateurishly executed song from their backlog and retool it into something special. That’s exactly what the Bandits have done here. By taking another pass at “Meet Me on the Moon,” the Gully Bandits have unearthed the party anthem that’s been hiding within the murky and lethargic previous reading, and it’s absolutely the standout song on the new EP. Listening to both versions back to back, you can really hear how far the Bandits have come since Sounds from the Gully.

The EP’s sole weakness is its brevity. At a mere 14 or so minutes long, it’s more of a space operetta than a full-blown space opera, and it leaves you wanting more. Fortunately, an inside source told me we should expect another release from the Gully Bandits in the not-too-distant future. I can’t wait to hear what they’re cooking up. On May 3, Space will be available to stream everywhere talented musicians get ripped off. Check it out if you’re in the mood for something a little mind-bending, a little rambunctious and a hell of a lot of fun. You can also follow these space cowboys on Instagram @thegullybandits to get notified about their upcoming live shows. —Joe Roberts

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